4. Ivan

Now it was summer. The snow had long disappeared, and the heavy mists had dissipated. There were more Western cars on the roads than the previous winter, seemingly led by Mercedes and Volkswagen. With the arrival of spring, street life and outdoor activities had returned.

The goal was to explore the Bulgarian coastline south of Varna with a sailboat. The plans had been cooked up during the winter over a few glasses of drinks at the sailors’ café. Varna was the residence and home port of Ivan Grekov. If you visited the regular group of sailors at their pub on Maxim Gorky Street on Thursday evenings, you would quickly hear his name mentioned. The 31-year-old Grekov was famous among sailors in Bulgaria. His qualities were extolled in the café. By the age of fifteen, he had already become the national champion in the quarter-ton class. He participated in international regattas, ran a sailing school, a charter company, and an agency. And as if that wasn’t enough, he was trying to raise two million dollars with the Bulgarian Hope syndicate to participate in the Whitbread 1993-94, a renowned round-the-world sailing race. In short, he was ‘the guy to meet’.

Ivan – with an open face and sun-bleached hair – quickly warmed up to the idea. Like many of his compatriots, he embraced every opportunity he saw to do business and, in his case, promote tourism and water sports. Numerous business proposals were made that winter. It almost always ended with the remark: “If you help me, you’ll get a percentage too.”

For Ivan, a trip along the coast was a great opportunity to strengthen ties with his business partners and explore new markets. “Get in touch with me by the time you come back, okay?” he said a few days later. “I’ll arrange a boat and we’ll set off. It’s also good for me to see how the other ports are faring.”

So, for the next few days, Ivan will be our skipper, guide, and companion. His girlfriend Maria and his friend Svetoslav are also coming along. We’re setting off on a warm evening. Earlier in the day, we loaded several boxes and bags of provisions on board for the first few days. Total cost? Just a few dollars.